Category Archives: Concert

Aristides held a recital couple of days ago at a local church in order to raise money for his cello. It was a beautiful recital consisted of different types of music in collaboration with a wonderful pianist, Victor Cayres and an amazing clarinetist, Benito Meza. I especially enjoyed the Grand Tango, which Aristides plays with so much soul and passion. It seems like a different piece every time he plays it – it keeps changing. It was so wonderful to see so many of his friends and supporters there too. We are so blessed to be surrounded by supportive friends.

I attended “Make Music Harvard Square/Fête de la Musique” last weekend. It is an annual music festival that is inspired by the “Fête de la Musique,” a street-music festival which started 28 years ago in Paris. The “Fête de la Musique” is now celebrated, under many names, in more than 300 cities in 108 countries, from London to Beijing to Buenos Aires. The principal string players of Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra performed that day at the main stage. They played a string quartet by Mendelssohn and another piece by Tsintsadze arranged by our own cellist. It was so nice to see people stopping by to enjoy classical music. Many people requested that they want more of this on a regular basis. It would be so nice if our daily lives were full of classical music!

As I have mentioned before, Chris Thile is one of my favorite musicians. He is such a skilled mandolin player but also has great song writing skills. Oh and he sings well too. I heard the Punch Brothers (the band that Chris is a part of) a while ago when the Julian Lage Group (band my husband is in) opened for them at a show in Brooklyn. I have been listening to their stuff ever since. Each of the members are super talented and the songs are great. If you have not heard them, PLEASE DO!!

They performed in Somerville Theatre last month during their tour promoting their new CD “Who’s Feeling Young Now?” The seats we got were right behind huge stereos and we couldn’t see anything. My husband went up to the staff at the theatre to ask if there were any other seats left for us to move to. The staff was very kind and to our surprise, they moved us to the very front row, two seats right in front of the stage! It was a little too close, but exciting at the same time. I could see the intricacy of their playing from that distance and was reminded of how skilled they all are.

Wonderful Aoife O’Donovan opened for the Punch Brothers, which was lovely. I was able to hear some of her true qualities which I couldn’t hear when she sang with the Goat Rodeo Sessions.

When I heard that my favorite musician Chris Thile was collaborating with Yo-Yo Ma, I was so ecstatic. Yo-Yo Ma is known for playing different types of music other than classical music, and Chris Thile is also known for his versatility. They are both experts in their field, but not afraid to experiment outside their comfort zone. Oh and of course, we cannot forget the wonderful Edgar Meyer and Stuart Duncan. As you can imagine, this band is pretty hard core.

The Goat Rodeo Sessions came out with their first CD in January and then followed the CD release with two amazing shows at the House of Blues. I was able to attend one of the sold out House of Blues shows. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!! If you have not heard them, take a look at this video below, you won’t be sorry.

During the show, Yo-Yo played the cello, Chris played the mandolin, violin, guitar, and sang couple of the tracks, Stuart played the fiddle, banjo, and mandolin, Edgar played the bass and piano. A female vocalist, Aoife O’Donovan joined Chris on the vocals for the two songs. She is actually a graduate of New England Conservatory, but she graduated a year before I came, so I missed her. She was lovely – her voice is sweet but with a lot of soul. The style of music is mostly bluegrass, but not stuck in the style – lot’s of possibility for the future!

How wonderful to see such a successful collaboration between musicians from different genres. I think it helps to bring the music world closer to each other, because sometimes I feel that there are too many walls between the different styles and genres. Yay!

What a blessing to live in Boston, a city full of musical events every day. I had the pleasure of attending several amazing performances in the past month and a half and thought I would share my experience with you all! Since end of January, I have attended the following shows:

I will upload couple of separate entries talking about some of these amazing performances. It is always so inspiring to see/hear other groups doing so many innovative and exciting things. I always feel that I learn something new from the experiences.